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NYE

Jake loves being a dad.  Things like this make me smile – he really loves his kids.

Just in case you were wondering, there are about 70 balloons there – all inflated by my husband.  And no, he didn’t feel light-headed after blowing them all up.  Thankfully, we have an air compressor that did the job.  We rung in the New Year with a few friends, 3 kiddos, a warm fire in the porch, and a few tasty treats.  The kids lasted until about 10:30, so the party ended a bit before the official start of the new decade, but that was ok.  Our family had to get some sleep so we could get up and make the trip up north to the Iron Range to visit my dad’s side of the family.

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Three word phrases

Lincoln has started putting 3 words together to express what he wants.  Our fine-tuned parental ears have been able to make out the following desires (or demands :))

“I wan cu!” (I want cup) and “I wan ba.”  (I want ball) are two phrases we hear throughout the day.  He will add in a “peez” (please) complete with sign language if we ask him, “What do you say?”  It’s pretty cute.

Today’s phrase while driving in the suburban was, “I wan Jee jee!”  Which when played through the Lincoln translator, means, “I want Jesus.”  Further translation is required to know what the hidden meaning actually is.  We have a CD of kids’ praise music in the truck and when Nolan wants to listen to it, he asks for “Jesus music.”  Today, I guess it was Lincoln’s turn to ask DJ mom to select CD 4 from the set.

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The Twin Cities

My mom and I took a trip to the U of M Bookstore today to find Gopher gear.  On our way to campus, we could see downtown from the freeway.  I asked Nolan what city was in the distance.  He responded, “It’s Saint-apolis!”  Jake and I have been telling him about St. Paul and Minneapolis and how they’re Twin Cities.  I guess he decided he’d come up with his own name 🙂

Once we made it to the bookstore, the boys had a blast checking out all of the maroon and gold shirts, hats, balls, and toys.  Anything with Goldy on it made them shout, “Go Gophers!”  Or in Lincoln speak, “Go, Go-Go!”  We received a lot of smiles from the bookstore workers thanks to the fact that class is not in session and the place was pretty quiet – except for our little Gopher fans.

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Ready, Aim, Fire!

Nolan and I gave our new slippers a trial run this afternoon.

After bathtime tonight, Lincoln came into his room wearing his towel.  Standing several feet away from me, he stayed very still, like he was in a trance.  Before I knew it, there was a small puddle next to him on the floor.  He looked at me and said, “I wen pee pee.”  (And no, I didn’t forget the “t” on “went.”  He just can’t quite say ths whole word yet.)  All I could do was smile.  The little guy has actually started expressing interest in potty training, but I think he’s just facinated with the toilet at this point.  However, I am encouraged by his excitement…and hopeful!

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Christmas 2009 – take 3 & take 4

We woke up Christmas morning to snow and rain…yes, rain on December 25.  Jake  started a fire in the porch so we could open presents without freezing around the tree.  We gave the boys sleeping bags & cots this year.  It was pretty funny watching them practice taking naps.  It’s the first Christmas morning in several years that we didn’t have to load ourselves into a car to travel to a morning or out of town gathering.  What a gift that was!  We spent time as a family, the kids napped in the afternoon, and in the evening, we headed to Jake’s grandparents’ house for the Settergren family Christmas celebration.  35+ of us were able to make it this year.  Believe it or not, we were missing a few due to the weather.  I forgot to pack the camera for the big family shindig.  Maybe that was a good thing though – I didn’t worry about capturing all that I could, digitally.  Instead, I just enjoyed the evening as it unfolded.

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Christmas 2009 – take 2

Christmas Eve was a snowy one.  We woke up to a driveway full of light, fluffy flakes.  After breakfast, Jake and I traded our “normal” jobs – I went out to snow blow the driveway and he stayed in and watched the kids and cleaned up the kitchen.  After he was done, he dressed the kids in their snowpants, etc. and brought them outside.  We dug out the sled and tried to make a path down the hill in the front yard.  Several attempts were made to blaze a trail, some successful, some not so much.  But fun was definitely had by all – except for the one time that Lincoln got white-washed.  He called it quits after that episode.  But Nolan, our neighbor D, and I continued to play for a while.  If lunch time hadn’t closed in on us, we would have stayed out longer.

After lunch & naps, we went to 4pm Christmas Eve mass.  Thankfully, my parents beat us to church and reserved half of a pew – they saved us from standing.  From church, we headed to my parents’ house for dinner, presents and a birthday cake for Jesus.  (This is one of the kids’ favorite things about Christmas.  Ok, and mine too :))  Part of dinner consisted of turkey drummers for the boys to eat.  Nolan first had one when he was about 9 months old.  This go-around he made much more progress.  Lincoln did quite well with his first drummer.  Actually, he looked like a natural.

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Blast off to Planet Bass

The following conversation took place this morning while Nolan was drawing on his Magnadoodle:

“Tell me about your picture, Nolan.”

“I drew a rocket!”

“Where is the rocket blasting off to?”

“It’s going to Planet Bass!”

What makes his response so funny to those of us in my family is that Planet Bass isn’t a place he made up.  It’s actually the name of his Uncle Tony’s company.  I called my brother after this short exchange and I think it’s safe to say Nolan made his day 🙂

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Little dippers

My kids like to “dip” things.  Any time there is some sort of sauce (ketchup, honey, bbq, salsa) they want to join in the dipping.  This afternoon, I was eating chips & salsa after the boys finished their lunch.  They hovered near and asked with their sweet little “pleases” if they could dip a chip too.  I’m a sucker for kids with manners, so I let them try a taste or two, as was the case for my double-dipping little Lincoln.

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Christmas 2009 – take 1

Sunday afternoon, after the kids took much needed naps, we headed to Jake’s parents’ house to celebrate Christmas.  Unfortunately, Stacie wasn’t able to join in the fun – she was studying for finals.  We played a little Mexican Train, watched football, had a great ham dinner complete with cheesy potatoes & orange jello salad, and of course, opened presents.  The boys were very excited to help pass out the wrapped surprises and open them 🙂  I think they assisted everyone in opening at least one gift.  After the wrapping paper was picked up, we snacked on all sorts of sweets – ice cream, fudge, chocolate crinkles and dipped pretzels just to name a few.  The boys were more than happy to sample just about everything they could talk someone into giving them (or sneak!)

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Big shoes, little feet

Saturday morning after we got the kids up and dressed, they ran into our room and came out with my “inside shoes” on their little feet.  It’s hard to imagine the day their feet will dwarf mine!